The Death, and Rise of a Hero
by friar jerome
Summary: New Heroes emerge, discovering their powers in the most dire of circumstances. oneshot.


Mr Zaleski marked up the next problem on the board.

"OK guys, once you've done this I've got a few sheets for you to do." A collective groan ran through the class as he said it.

"Come on guys, you know how to do this, we just went over it." We had just gone over it, but I still couldn't figure it out. Man I hate physics.

I started the problem in my book. What is it? Time divided by speed? Or the other way around? Or is it speed times time? I put my hand up in the air.

"Yes, Joe. What is it?" He appeared at my shoulder. I almost jumped. Most people had back at the start of the year, back when Mr Zaleski was new. He could move fast, real fast. In the staff vs. student relay on athletics day, he'd almost single-handedly won the race for the staff. Thank goodness for Mr Carmen and his dickey knee.

"Uh, I'm having trouble doing this."

"Ok." He looked at his watch

"Just a sec, I gotta go do something first."

He walked over to the door and slipped outside. My best friend, Michael leaned over.

"You seriously having trouble?" I nodded.

"But this is so easy. How can't you get it?" the disbelief plastered across his face.

"I don't know. I just can't get it. I s'pose it's like you can't act to save yourself."

"True."

"Pass your book, I think I might've copied the notes down wrong"

"Uh, no."

"Why not?"

"Cos I don't want to." I did my patented "HYPERGLARE" at him but I didn't actually have super powers, nothing happened.

"Come on, pleeeeeeeeeze?" the "HYPERGLARE", then the pleading seemed to do its work.

"Oh, fine." He handed the book over.

"Hehehe, now I have ze book, nosink can stop me from conquering ze vorld!"

He rolled his eyes. I grinned and started copying out the notes into my book, editing my own work as I went.

Mr Zaleski came back inside, carrying a large box. He heaved it across the classroom onto the teachers' desk. A mammoth task, considering the size of the box, and the fact that the teachers' desk was on the other side of the classroom. He pulled a large black ball out of the box.

"This is your next test." He said, flourishing the ball, almost breaking his wrist in the process.

"It's a simple test. All you do is role the ball down a tube and measure how far it goes. You do this several times, with the tube, acting as a ramp, at different angles. After that, you use the information you got from the experiment to figure out what the relationship of the slope of the ramp to the distance travelled. You'll also need to draw a graph showing your results. You can work in groups, but you all need to write your own summery. Trust me; I'll know if you've cheated."

Brianna put her hand up.

"Is the test for credits¹?"

"Yes. Five credits, in fact."

Jessica put her hand up. Her hand was right in front of me, so her hand obscured Mr Zaleski's face.

"The eclipse is in ten minutes, sir. Will we be able to watch it?"

"Yeah sure." Mr Zaleski said.

A cheer went around the room, although it was more like a synchronised "Yes!" than a cheer.

The door suddenly burst open, with two men rushing in. Two men who changed the lives of everyone in the room. They were wearing leather jackets, and carrying hand guns.

"Everybody down! Now!" yelled one of them. He brandished his gun at us. We got down. I don't think anyone was going to even think about messing with them.

"Not you." said the other one, pointing at Mr Zaleski. "You can face the wall." Mr Zaleski did just that. He was jabbed in the back by the taller one, the one who first spoke, the barrel of his pistol.

"Don't you even think about being heroic."

"You. Get up." He pointed at my sister, Samantha. _No, no, no, not her. Anyone else but her. Please,_ I thought silently. She stood up. She was shaking. The shorter gunman was standing about a metre away from her.

"Are you a Christian?" he asked his face blank. What a dumb question to ask, this is a Catholic school.

Sam gulped, and said a word that changed the lives of everyone in the room.

"Yes."

The shorter gunman raised his weapon and fired two shots that changed the lives of everyone in the room.

I leaped up, and leaped towards the two of them, my sister, and one of the gunmen. I knew in the back of my mind that I couldn't do anything. But I jumped anyway. I don't know why.

Suddenly, I felt something hit my chest, then another. I opened my eyes. I didn't even know I'd closed them.

I was between my sister and the gunman who had fired the two shots. I looked at my chest. Two bloody holes were placed right above my heart, about five centimetres apart. I looked up again. I was between my sister and the shorter gunman. I'd taken the bullets meant for her. I'd also moved five metres in a split second. I can't have moved that fast. There is no way I could've.

My sister looked at me with a look of horror mixed with amazement. She knelt down, and held my head. She looked back up at the gunman in anger, her eyes blazing. The gunmen flew back and smashed into the wall. The taller one's head cracked against the edge of the white board. Scarlet trickled down onto the wall. They sank down to the floor.

_Was that her? Did she do that? They got thrown against the wall without being touched. _These were my last thoughts as I sank into oblivion. Glorious oblivion.

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¹ this refers to the New Zealand high school certificate, NCEA. There's three levels at high school (1,2&3)


End file.
